Single Sensor Emitter Localization Based on TOA Sequence With Inter-Pulse Modulation

Based on the periodicity of pulse trains, a stationary emitter can be located by a single moving sensor. This method requires neither a complex antenna array nor synchronization between sensors, and provides certain advantages over some traditional passive localization methods. In this paper, we propose a single sensor localization method using time of arrival (TOA) sequence with inter-pulse modulation, which is a common issue in reality. We firstly model the localization problem as a nonlinear least-square (NLS) problem from the perspective of maximum likelihood (ML) estimation. Then we transform this NLS problem into a smaller scale one. Finally, an iterative estimation algorithm is utilized to estimate the position of emitter and the precise modulation parameters of pulse trains. Simulation results show that the proposed method can achieve good estimation accuracy and outperforms conventional methods.